Where Are the Facts on Tees Valley Mayor?

Where Are the Facts on Tees Valley Mayor?

Article excerpt

CAN someone tell me before tomorrow, exactly what the new Tees Valley Authority involves? Can we have some hard facts rather than the impossible political promises made by all the candidates. I find it hard to believe that a Tory government will give the Labour dominated North-east a large pot of money to spend on previously unobtainable luxuries like an airport and a new Tees Bridge without taking the money from somewhere else.

Who will actually do the work related to education, transport etc? Will a section of the current local highways staff, for example, be allocated to Tees Valley work? Will they move offices and will grants to the local authorities be cut accordingly? Will the new mayor have an office, mayoral car and chauffeur etc. If the new mayor is not the Labour candidate, how will any progress be made or does the Tees Valley Mayor have power to override decisions made by the local authority leaders? It seems to me that the Tees Valley Authority is simply replacing Cleveland County Council, albeit somewhat larger - returning us to a two tier system.

Please, let's have some more information before voting on something that very few people wanted or voted for.

E JONES, Redcar Shona should never be returned to park MYSELF and many others are devastated by the sickening and senseless attack on the swans in Albert Park in the early hours of Wednesday.

I am a mature person who has visited the park on a daily basis for many years. My daily walk will never be the same. Shona and Stanley are like family to many. They were beautiful defenceless birds who never hurt anyone. Both old and young people visited them, especially when they had their cygnets.

On many occasions I have witnessed youths throwing sticks and stones at them during daylight hours.

Thank you to Mr Strafford of Yorchem for offering a substantial reward. Somebody knows who has committed this barbaric act. Hopefully this kind gesture will lead to the naming of the scum who did. They don't belong in society.

The RSPCA have told the park staff that if Shona recovers she will be returned to the park. We all feel that this shouldn't be the case. Shona will never fully recover from the trauma that she has been through and she will be scarred for life. We all think that she needs to start a new life in a quiet, peaceful location where hopefully she will find a new soulmate.

J MAY, Middlesbrough Thanks to couple who gave me a lift I'D just like to pass on a big thank you to the couple who stopped and offered me, and my bike, a lift along to Billingham late Friday night, April 28.

I'd been out on my bike and was returning home when I suffered a puncture. It was one of the rare times I found myself unable to repair it so having already pushed the bike along from close to the bridge over the A689 on the Castle Eden Walkway, I'd made my way to Fulthorpe Garage on Wynyard Road by around 11. …